"The body of this animal was in an advanced state of decomposition - making it look rather un-whale like and there were several confused reports on social media.”

After a long debate, scientists came to the conclusion that the odd creature probably belongs to the whale family – most likely a Cuvier’s beaked whale.

The Cuvier’s beaked whale can grow up to seven metres long and is a cigar-shaped mammal which is distributed in more than three quarters of the world’s oceans.

Dr Elwen continued: "Based on the shape of the head and snout and the overall size - the research team are fairly confident that the specimen is a Cuvier's beaked whale.”

A Cuvier’s beaked whale (Image: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

He adds it was not possible to discover the cause of death due to how much the whale had rotter and the fact its head had been severely crushes.

Dr Elwen said: “The lower jawbone was cracked and broken quite severely, however, given the state of the corpse and the absence of any apparent external injuries, the damage to the jaw was possibly post-mortem.

“I was quite surprised. These animals are rarely seen in the water, so to see them on land is very unique.”